Skyrim Main Quest Overhaul [WIP]

[behughes]

Hey everyone, just wanted to give an update since I've been away from the Nexus for so long.

 

This mod is still going... slowly. It was a busy summer for me, and my job didn't afford me much time to delve into the CK. That's all over now, I'm working about half as much as I was, so I'm jumping back into this. As many of you who've followed this mod since it's humble beginnings might recall, I'm actually teaching myself as I go (my real background is in music/audio), so it's a slow process. That said, JibstaMan and I have been working -- albeit independently -- and hope to how something tangible to show for it soon.

 

PROGRESS REPORT

 

I've recently had to reassess many of the big plans I had for Act 1. Revoicing characters like Jarl Balgruuf won't be possible; he has hundreds of lines of dialogue, intricately woven into both the Main Quest and the Civil War, not to mention one of the Daedra questlines. I decided after testing CWO that I want this mod to be compatible with ApolloDown's work. For that reason, I can't change anything Balgruuf does as it relates to the Civil War questline, without risking incompatibility. This was a big limitation, as he was a major player in most of the new quests for Act 1.

 

I've decided to take a different approach with Balgruuf, using exising lines from the same VoiceType to add new lines to Balgruuf for the Main Quest only, while leaving his CW stuff intact. It's a compromise, but after listening to over 3,500 lines of dialogue audio, and personally sorting and transcribing about 800 potentially useful lines, I'm optimistic that I'll still be able to enhance the player's intactions with the Jarl to improve the story progression. It'll allow me to change any line I wish (within reason) or simple add new lines, without touching his CW dialogue.

 

To make up for the [partial] loss of Balgruuf, I still plan to fully revoice Farengar myself - and with the help of the VAs here, Irileth too - and make them the focal point of the Dragonsreach quests.

 

So, Act 1 is going to be lighter than originally planned, but the benefit of this is that it will be more focused. Lydia will still get a proper introduction and backstory, and we'll even have a run-in with one of the new non-dragon antaonists that's being added by SMQO. Essentially, I'm getting back to my original vision -- to make the early quest "non-urgent" and remove the dove-tailing from one quest to the next, by allowing the player to "refuse" his/her fate (at least, at first).

 

I'm also going to try to resolve what I believe is one of Bethesda's biggest blunders with Act 1 - the crossover between the Main Quest and the Civil War in Message to Whiterun.

 

 

I'm referring to the awkwardness that takes place when players choose to side with a CW faction (particularly, the Stormcloaks) before ever visiting the Jarl. In effect, Ulfric sends you to Balgruuf with an ultimatum, and Balgruuf responds by telling you (a complete stranger and enemy of his regime) to kill a dragon, as a tiny favor. It's ludicous! Even if you're supporting the Legion, it's awkward, though at least you go into the situation knowing that after you kill the dragon and become his Thane, you're not going to turn around an invade his city.

 

This lunacy actually forced me to scrap Farengar's new "dragon research" quests, which were going to be added before Bleak Falls Barrow. But then Balgruuf's unreasonable request would becomes all the more insane. As a compromise, I'm turning the storylines of those quests expository dialogue, so it's not a complete loss. If I have time, I might restore them as optional, time-sensitive side-quests.

 

In any case, I'm torn. I'd like to leave the the Civil War alone, but I can't in good conscience leave this scenario unresolved, after all of the other crap we're trying to do. Right now, I'm working on finding dialogue from the existing pool of audio for Balgruuf's voicetype, that would allow me to smooth this over without any major changes.

If I can't, my next best option I'm considering is to try to personally voice some lines for Ulfric, changing the conditions of his ultimatum ( Message to Whiterun [sC] ) from the original "give him this axe, and if he gives it back, it's WAR!" scenario, to something more like, "Go to Whiterun, try to be polite and make friends, maybe help out a little, then try to persuade him to see reason."

I'm curious what others think? Keeping in mind the limitations on what I can make Balgruuf say.

 

MOVING FORWARD

 

JibstaMan is currently working on his own to create on of the new "towns" that will play a larger role in Act 2. It's being designed as a stand-alone mod, so it's going to have lots of cool features that don't have anything to do with the Main Quest.

 

I still have hundreds of audio files to transcribe for Balgruuf alone, before I can set about arranging the phrases into new lines, editing and convertng them, and turning them into conversations. Then there's Farengar. The rest of my team is MIA, so I could use a hand executing these current plans. So, I'm looking for one or two people that are familar enough with quest design and script editing to assist me in tweaking the existing quests. For now, this won't involve building any new quests from scratch, but rather altering scripts and AI to create the "scenes" that will accompany the new dialogue being added to the vanilla quests Unbound, Before the Storm, and eventually Bleak Falls Barrow and Dragon Rising. From there, we'll discuss new NPCs, scenes, side-quests, etc. If anyone is interested in helping out, please feel free to contact me [email protected].

[behughes]

Quick update:

 

I've made some progress on tweaking the scenes with Hadvar after escaping Helgen. It took some trial and error, but I've discovered that it's possible to put ForceGreet dialogue inside of a scene. Now, Hadvar will ForceGreet the player with the line "Closest town from here is Riverwood. My uncle's the blacksmith there..." etc., etc. Instead of suggesting that you split up, he'll invite you to join him, an offer which you may accept or decline. I'm still working out how to make it so he doesn't wait for you if he decline his offer.

 

If I can work that out, I'll do the same for Ralof's scenes. As it turns out, it Bethesda's original intention to give the player these options, but for some reason those dialogue branches were left unused in the final release. As such, there's actually a good deal of recorded voice audio for me to work with here. From here, I plan to remove Alvor's/Gerdur's ForceGreet dialogue, so inside of being asked to visit Balgruuf, you'll simply be given the option to ask Alvor/Gerdur if there's anything you can do to help Riverwood with the dragon threat. Again, it would seem this was Bethesda's original plan.

 

All in all, these are small, cosmetic changes, but I think they'll make these scenes feel more nuanced and interactive. The next phase of the mod will be a bit trickier -- I intend to create a radiant quest, similar to ones that are used to track the player's progress on Thane quests, to track the player's "fame" in Whiterun. This will become a condition for being offered the quest Bleak Falls Barrow.

 

I'm still looking for people to assist me. CK experience is obviously helpful, but not required. PM or email me if you're interested!

[clubsauce]

Man its moments like these that i wish i had computer talent :sad:

But about the voice acting, i don't think you really have to find people to imitate the voices, you can have your own interperetation of what a character sounds like, because most of the voices in the game are recycled anyway.

but omg was the main quest line lacking in well... a lot. So whatever you guys can add on to this sounds freaking amazing. Hell some dialogue options and having a conversation with alduin would be nice rather than just listen to him and kill him. So it would be similar to Dagoth Ur, or Legate Danius where we could have a discussion with the antagonist.

Edited November 19, 2013 by clubsauce

[behughes]

@clubsauce

Don't let the lack of computer talent hold you back. I certainly haven't got any :D Everything I've learned how to do (except basic audio editing) is something I learned AFTER deciding to make this mod. If you've got dedication, a bit of free time, and the will to learn, I

 

As far as voice stuff goes, at this point, I'm mostly looking at what I accomplish by manipulating existing lines of dialogue for a given VoiceType. For example: Jarl Balgruuf, Ralof, and tons of other NPCs use of the voicetype "malenord," which has over 1200 lines of dialogue. Anything said by anyone with that particulary voicetype can, in theory, be said by Balgruuf... and since I have experience with audio editing and access to software like Melodyne, I can splice sentences together, re-pitch words, change inflection and duration of syllables... all without recording any new audio. I've also found a handy way to export spreadsheets from the CK that tell me each audio file's name, and gives me the contents as searchable text. All I have to do is think of a phrase I want a character of that voicetype to say, search for something like it, modify as needed, and drop it into the game where it needs to go.

 

In other news... I've actually been invited to beta-test Elder Scrolls Online. Like an idiot, I waited until one hour before the tests begin to create my account and start downloading, so I probably won't be playing until tomorrow. However, I'm looking forward to seeing some parts of Tamriel that I haven't seen before. Still haven't picked an alliance/race yet... thinking of going with an Argonian, but I'm almost tempted by the Dominion, since I'll get to explore territories that haven't been seen in any other TES game. Thoughts?

[Neoshenlong]

This sounds... ... awesome. Nothing less. I discovered this by actually googling a way to make the main quest more interesting. I'm in my...6 or 7th try to finish the main quest a second time and i just find it so annoying I end up giving up on playing skyrim at all for some weeks and then starting again from the beginning.

I don't know, I've got nothing to say, everything I have read here sounds awesome and I seriously hope you can finish this project.

I've had some problems working with the CK (software related stuff... I don't know), otherwise I would love learning to use it to give you a hand. Perhaps if my computer helps me a little I'll be able to do something.

Until then, I'll be paying attention to any progress you make.

Keep up the good work!

[torch178]

I think this is a mod that could be an essential mod. The main quest's really one of the bigger flaws with the game as it has so much potential with the multiple layer to it that are never used. Personally I think ti would a fantastic idea to reintroduce the ancient Nordic dragon cult to switch things up. This new faction could allow for quests that wouldn't rely on existing characters or quests already in the main quest line, and you wouldn't have to worry about this balancing act of compatibility so much. It only makes sense that the cult resurface too, as it has a deep history in skyrim and the dragons are obviously powerful and threatening enough to warrant a following.

[torch178]

The dragon cult would also allow for greater dungeon variety, another element lacking in vanilla Skyrim, by adding in new and cleaned up dragon cult shrines, hideouts, forts, and etc. Since Akatosh and Kynareth are sacred to the dragons this could also cause a schism in the worship of the divines, which could add another cultural and political layer to the main story's conflict. A few more friendly dragons in the vein of Parthurnax would also vary things up a bit and give the dragons as a whole a bit more depth. They don't have to be good necessarily either and could just be jealous or resentful towards Alduin. There's a lot of room for expanding the main quest via this route as well, and it could be accomplished through the use of completely independent and new npcs and events to further flesh out the conflict. The hardest thing about this project is trying to be compatible with the existing main quest events, factions, and characters so more solutions like this might work. The dragon cult introduces the possibility of a secondary antagonist as well who could breathe new life into the quest line and they could play a completely different role and persona to that of alduin.

[omnimuffin]

How's this going?

[dovasdream]

Hi,

I love the idea of this project and I'd like to enlist my help. I'm a level designer and though I haven't worked with creation kit I've been meaning to give it a go. I personally worked with the unreal development kit and I know how to work with these things. If you are still looking for help on this project I'd be more than happy to. I do not have any experience with 3d design so I can't create new set pieces but if you have someone for that I can import it and use it however you want. If this is indeed still going of course.

[JibstaMan]

Hey,

 

A quick, long overdue update. There have been changes of plans, but ultimately, we're still going. Progress is slow, or relatively fast depending on your point of view.

I'm not going to say much more, hopefully we'll be ready for a more official announcement within a reasonable time span.

 

@dovasdream: I'll send you a PM.